


Here on the Inside

by SegaBarrett



Category: Breaking Bad
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 03:37:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3193844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Andrea takes care of Jesse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here on the Inside

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Star_sail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_sail/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I don't own Breaking Bad, and I make no money from this.

_“I'm sitting on the corner feeling glad.  
Got no money coming in but I can't be sad.  
That was the best cup of coffee I ever had.  
And I won't worry about a thing  
because we've got it made,  
here on the inside, outside so far away…”_  
Jethro Tull, “Inside”

Jesse had been driving blind, once he had gotten out of the compound. He didn’t know where he was going, or even what he was trying to run towards, only what and who he was trying to run away from. He was trying to escape the compound, and trying to escape Mr. White, trying to be miles and miles away by the time the man finally let out his death rattle, before he breathed his last and his old ass started trying to haunt Jesse for the rest of his life.

He turned his car up a long street. He knew it somehow. 

Jesse let go of the steering wheel and felt his eyes drooping. Everything was dark. He was probably going away now, going somewhere far away. A nice place. He was so very tired that it was nice that he was…

***

Jesse woke up lying on a couch and staring up at a ceiling, but he wasn’t sure where. 

“Jesse,” a voice called softly, and he turned his head and blinked a few times. Someone was blurry, but they were coming into view, and they were calling him by name. Who was it? 

He could see, through the blur, black hair, and his first thought was that it was Jane looming over him. Maybe that was it. Maybe he was dead and now they were together again. Or he was in some strange kind of coma, seeing ghosts, and he’d have to decide whether to stay or go. 

“Jesse,” the voice repeated, and this time he recognized it, just before Andrea floated into view. Andrea, with her soft brown eyes and gentle smile. She was touching his stomach and whispering his name into his ear. 

“A…” he started, his voice raspy and low. 

“It’s okay,” she whispered, “Don’t try and talk. I’m keeping an eye on you. I saw the car crash on my lawn and I couldn’t believe it was you. It was really you. On TV, they kept saying… kept thinking the worst. But I never gave up hope that you were out there somewhere.”

She draped a soft blanket around him.

“You need rest, though. You’re going to need a lot of rest. Whatever happened to you in there wore you down. You have… you’ve got scars all over everywhere. They’re mostly healed though. That’s a good thing. But still…”

“Still what?” Jesse whispered. His eyes were a little blurry. He tried to remember what had brought him to this point. He had been in the compound and he had been sure that he’d been there all the years of his life, until the work ran him down and he just died, or until Todd got tired of trying to impress Lydia and they just decided to kill him off.

They had shown him that escaping wouldn’t do any good. They had proven it to him the day that he’d tried. They had driven him up to Andrea’s house and they had stood there and knocked on her door, left as she walked up to it. A promise.

“Next time we won’t walk away,” Jack had promised him, “A dog needs to learn how to behave.”

“Andrea,” Jesse whispered again, and Andrea ran her hands over his forehead. 

“I’m going to check you over, still. I only made it through the first semester of Medical Assistant school but… I learned a few things.” She began to gently run her hands over his side, checking around his ribs for something, but he wasn’t sure what. “They healed, I think. But they might have healed wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don’t think ribs are supposed to feel like this.” She ran her hands over his chest and pressed down very gently. “They’re probably fused or something. I don’t know. Saw it on an old rerun of St. Elsewhere…”

“St. what?”

“My grandmother used to watch it. Loved Mark Harmon. But that’s not the point.”

“They feel fine,” Jesse said desperately, “It’s okay. They don’t hurt. I… can I please stay here with you?” He felt his eyes brimming with tears. “I was so afraid that I was going to lose you…”

“Why? Why would you lose me, Jesse? What’s wrong? Who did these things to you?” She cupped his cheek tenderly. “You don’t need to tell me if you’re not ready, but… I’m going to need to know something eventually. You can trust me.”

“I ... I know that I can.” Jesse shut his eyes. “I was just afraid that you’d get hurt. Or that you’d… think I was some kind of a monster. I don’t ever want you to think that about me.”

“Shh. Rest now. We’ll talk later, okay? You need your rest.” Andrea draped the blanket over his head. It was like he was in a tiny, protected fort now.

***

He woke up in a bathtub full of warm water. It had been so long since he’d taken a bath, let alone one in water that wasn’t freezing, that it almost seemed too warm, too hot. He thought it was burning his skin, but he didn’t know how to find the words.

He sat up to see Andrea looking at him. She had soap petals in her hand, and she placed them down around the tub. They were pink, and there were little streams of light hitting them from the bathroom light.

“How did I get here?” Jesse mumbled.

“Yeah, I know,” Andrea replied dryly, “This is not your beautiful house. This is not your beautiful wife.”

Jesse gazed at her.

“You know that song?”

“Who doesn’t?” Andrea shrugged again and picked up a rag, handing it to him. “You need a bath. Desperately. Was hoping you’d wake up before I had to do all the work myself.” She gave him a look that was equal parts sympathetic and depressed. It was like she could look into his eyes, into his heart, and see all that he hid there. All that he didn’t want to see himself.

Jesse began to slowly wash himself, sighing deeply. He wanted to tell her everything, but where were the words? There were nothing but scars, all of the scars that covered him from head to toe. 

“All right. Not trying to rush you, but Brock is getting home in twenty minutes and this is a little more than I want him to see of you.”  
She chuckled and helped him to his feet, and into an old T-shirt and pair of pants that didn’t quite fit him. They must have been lying around in Andrea’s room.  
She put her hands on Jesse’s shoulders and led him back downstairs.

The door opened a few minutes later and Brock appeared, his little backpack swinging behind him.

Jesse’s voice caught in his throat. 

“Hi, Brock,” Andrea said, before he had a chance to say anything at all. “Jesse’s home.”


End file.
